I am still a beginner and need some advice regarding the window manager PekWM. On a fresh OpenBSD 5.4 (release) installation I am trying make PekWM work.
While I don't have any problems with Fluxbox, PekWM just gives me a grey screen with a cursor but no context menu.
I added "exec pekwm" to my .xinitrc and then I enter startx.
What might be the problem?

On another note I wonder if it is correct to add "/usr/local/bin/slim" to /etc/rc.conf.local in order to start that display manager?

Disclaimer: I've never run pekwm. Until reading your post, I'd never heard of it.

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I added "exec pekwm" to my .xinitrc and then I enter startx.

That is the correct procedure, according to the documentation at pekwm.org. You should of course remove any other window manager in your .xinitrc file, such as fluxbox; you cannot have two window managers at the same time.

The documentation states that this window manager creates files in your ~/.pekwm directory; if you do not have this directory and these configuration files it is possible that pekwm did not ever run.

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On another note I wonder if it is correct to add "/usr/local/bin/slim" to /etc/rc.conf.local in order to start that display manager?

You should use /etc/rc.d/slim to start/stop the daemon, and automate this through adding "slim" to the pkg_scripts variable in /etc/rc.conf.local, as described in rc.conf(8) and rc.d(8). The rc.conf.* files only set variables that are used by the rc(8) infrastructure. If you wanted to script startup commands -- which you would not need for this -- you would use rc.local, rather than rc.conf.local.

Thank you both. I got slim fixed now.
I got some experience with pekwm on Linux and FreeBSD. Never had any trouble there.
PekWM creates those configuration files automatically when it is first started. To be on the safe side I copied the example files from /usr/local/share/examples/pekwm into ~/.pekwm. But to no avail. I only see a grey (not a solid grey - it is kind of dotted and quite unpleasant to the eye) with the cursor. And there is no menu available when I right click. I am forced to press ctrl+alt+backspace to get back to the console. Once I am back I got error messages about failures in opening files in /etc/pekwm/*** (will post them tomorrow if necessary) as well as a "xauth: bad display name" error.
And yes in my .xinitrc file I commented out fluxbox when I want to start pekwm.

We haven't seen your error messages, we only have symptoms you have described to us.

The "dotted and unpleasant to the eye" screen you describe could indicate a problem with pekwm or a problem with X Windows. Along with sharing those error messages from .xsession-errors, you might look for error messages in /var/log/Xorg.0.log as well, as that is where X stores information, warning, and error messages.

We haven't seen your error messages, we only have symptoms you have described to us.

The "dotted and unpleasant to the eye" screen you describe could indicate a problem with pekwm or a problem with X Windows. Along with sharing those error messages from .xsession-errors, you might look for error messages in /var/log/Xorg.0.log as well, as that is where X stores information, warning, and error messages.

Will post my error messages tomorrow.

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Sounds like maybe the X server is starting with the -retro "stippled" pattern? ( ... and no WM)

Yes that's it. That background can be also admired here: h**p://distrowatch.com/images/screenshots/openbsd-5.4-firefox.png

That is the default background that can be carried over into some of the lighter window managers (fvwm. twm, etc.). I run OpenBox and in either your .xsession or the ~/.config/openbox/autostart an entry like

Code:

# Set Background color
xsetroot -solid "#172636"

will give you something more pleasant. Color codes are here. The OpenBox source code does generate default entries in /etc/xdg but I did not see anything like that for PekWM in the package plist.

Hi nasser !
I've just tried pekwm .. it looks cool & similar to my favorite cwm .. I first run into a similar issue on -current .. but when I used defaults ~/.pekwm configuration dating back to OpenBSD 5.2 :-) , I got it working .. I can use the menu and lauch applications etc ..

Once I am back I got error messages about failures in opening files in /etc/pekwm/***

That's your problem, you don't have your own config files (which should be fine), but either /etc/pekwm doesn't exist, or it contains invalid or incomplete configuration files. This also explains why copying the files from daemonfowl solved your problem.

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